Gov. LePage says he's ready to work with 'honest' Democrats

At a forum in Wells on Friday, Republican Maine Gov. Paul LePage was by turns confrontational and conciliatory when he described working with the now-Democratically controlled Legislature.

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By Deborah McDermott

seacoastonline.com

By Deborah McDermott

Posted Nov. 11, 2012 at 2:00 AM

By Deborah McDermott
Posted Nov. 11, 2012 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

At a forum in Wells on Friday, Republican Maine Gov. Paul LePage was by turns confrontational and conciliatory when he described working with the now-Democratically controlled Legislature.

In one breath, he called Democrats "cruel" in the campaigns they mounted to defeat sitting Republican House and Senate members and on the other hand said he'll be glad to work with "honest" Democrats.

On the one hand, he said the public process "has come down to rhetoric and lies," and on the other, he said "we'll get a lot done" if Democrats are serious about getting to work.

It's a personality that local Democrats and Republicans alike who have served in Augusta are familiar with, but Democrats said they're willing to work with him if he'll work with them.

In fact, said state Sen. Dawn Hill, D-York, the message of the Nov. 6 election at the state and national level is that such cooperation is imperative.

"If I was the governor, maybe I'd need to reevaluate my situation," she said, adding that LePage's sometimes intractable stance on some issues will need to be modified.

"If he wants to run again (in 2014), he's going to have to change his strategy. Voters gave a very clear message: they want to see less partisanship and more working together for the state — from him and from us," she said.

LePage said he was most upset at the Democrats' campaign strategy to unseat Republican House and Senate members.

"I've never seen an election like this. It makes you want to get the heck out of this business," he said.

He mentioned several Republican state senators who lost re-election bids, saying the Democrats "went after (them) with a vengeance."

State Rep. Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, likely the next House speaker, said "the campaign is over, the election's been held, and now it's time to govern. We need to figure out a way to do that together."

The Democrats do not have a veto-proof majority in either house of the Legislature, so the worst-case scenario is that the Democrats put forth bills that the governor vetoes, and which then die for lack of an override.

That, said both Eves and Hill, simply is not going to fly with the people of Maine.

"Many things we don't see eye to eye on, but there must be areas of consensus," Hill said. "That's what the people of Maine expect. If we don't make an effort to reach out, it's going to hurt us."

And Eves said attitude and approach is everything. "We can have serious differences," he said, "but we need to set a tone right away. We need to approach this in a good-faith manner and with civility."

LePage, for his part, said he's ready to work.

"If the Democrats are really serious and want to put someone who is serious about sitting around the table, we'll get a lot done," he said.

That's a hopeful note for Democrat Paul McGowan of Cape Neddick, who was elected for the first time to the state Legislature from District 146 on Tuesday.

"The opportunity is there to see where we have common ground," he said. "If he wants, for instance, energy accessible to all people in Maine, let's talk about it. He may want the cheapest, others may say they want the cleanest. Where's the common ground?"

However, he is concerned that LePage may not change his stripes.

"What has he learned to make him do things differently? He says, 'I'm an agitator.' So I say, 'What do you think? Did that work well for you?'" McGowan said. "He has an opportunity to be a role model. So I say to him, 'At this new moment you might set a new tone.'"

Republican state Rep. Windol Weaver of York said that new tone has to be struck not only by the governor, who he admitted has a "strong personality," but with Democrats, too.

"If they're going to reach across and try, we'll be there," said Weaver, who made a point of saying that in the Republican-led Legislature last session, five of six supplemental budgets were passed by a supermajority of both houses. "So we know how to do that.

"We're not going to be treated like we were before," Weaver said of his first two sessions in the Legislature when the House, Senate and governor's seat were all in Democratic hands.

On the other hand, he said, he hopes LePage will learn "he needs a legislature to do things. If he didn't know that before, he's going to know it now."